Thursday, January 29, 2009

Stellan Egeland Harrier



This BMW R1200S based custom is the work of Stellan Egeland of SE Service, he has produced some amazingly detailed bikes in the last couple of years and this build continues the quality, but changes the style dramatically. Nothing about the bike (ok, apart from the air filters) looks less considered than a factory concept, the seat and front swing arm are works of art.



The only feature that stands out to me in a negative way is the steering head. While I can guess at some of the decisions behind the design it jst looks like it has been placed artifically high. That said, I suspect the high angle of the photo is exagerating the point and for all I know it was a necessity of the suspension design.

He has also played a part in releasing this Rocket III, thus far the only R3 I've seen that looks more like a bike than a phallic symbol.



via Church of Choppers, otto nero, fastbikes.se, The Kneeslider

Shelving with a new slant

A couple of interesting shelving systems using different, yet related, ideas on book storage and display.



Section by Air Design Group uses a division frequency that must have been sketched at one time or other by every furniture designer, but the angle gives the piece a whole new point of interest, and would show book covers to good effect.



The modular Nan 15 by Nitzan Cohen

via designboom

My Kind Of Insanity: Speed Boat



Crazy little boat with a big engine (of unknown origin to me). Check out how short the hull is!

via Ze Last Chance Garage du 7/8

Shagged Van



Finally: an Alren Ness vehicle I like.

via Biltwell

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The Geep: inspiration

There are many areas of bike design and culture that I'm a big fan of but the Geep is most likely to be influenced and inspired by the following:


didn't record the source.


flying dutchman


racerton


JVB moto


Chico Moto via Church of Choppers


(((noise)))


another lost reference


otto nero

This is of course just a small selection of the bikes and images that are swimming around in my head as I plan parts and cuts.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The Geep: introduction

A while ago i heard about a bike languishing in the suburbia, $200 later and I'm the proud owner of a tired but complete GPX600R. For an age I've longed for a project bike, something I can put some time and effort into, pour over every last detail, a proper project bike. This is not that bike.
I'm going to do this build on a close to non-existent budget and spend only as much time as necessary to make a few changes and get it on the road. It is going to be a cafe/bobber/tracker thing but I'm keeping very loose on the plan, we'll see what parts and ideas turn up along the way.

As it was when I collected it:



Parts: very rough RD400 (i think) tank , three unidentified rear guards:


still need to make a seat for the ZZ, anyone have an 03 ZX6 seat laying around...?

The first rough mock up with the tank cut apart:



Many major factors are still to be sorted such as ride height, exhaust, bars or clip-ons, to pie-cut or not to pie-cut the tank etc....

Friday, January 16, 2009

Squeakers



This is an absolute classic

via Arkitip

Uraidla Rod Show

A few weeks back Lenny and I headed out to Uraidla to check what has to be SA's biggest rod gathering.
We rolled along in the Val, and for a laugh tried our luck at the entry gate, to our great surprise we were waved through to join the 'classics' on the oval. I still get a chuckle out of looking at shots of our rough ride parked among all those polished and pampered cars.



There were some great cars and a few cool bikes.









For some better quality images check out the event coverage on the Jalopy Journal

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Mopar Finds

I was trawling through 'the bay' one night browsing for parts for my car, among the loads of over-priced tat I happened upon these select few noteworthy items:


Blue Hardtop


Original owner's manual, I love the layout on this but the 'L' bugs me.


Injected Hemi 6, if only I had a spare 5k to splurge on this jewel, it would be around three times the output, yet much less fuel than the anchor that currently resides in the engine bay.

There were also a set of drop spindles that I followed until they surpassed my ceiling of $550 (last I heard they were ~$750 new). They turned into a good example of the economic principle of Supply and Demand: they sold for $1125! They are still made new but are currently out of stock until mid 2009 hence the tall price.

Unloading tabs #2

Another load of 'stuff' I've had sitting around for too long:

Vintage Design


I've got a real soft spot for 'old' design and The Dieline have posted some classics of "soda pop" packaging

Archetoys


Some brilliantly simple, and presumably extremely durable and fun toy vehicles by Floris Hovers
via the cool hunter

Texture


Great use of repeated form to create texture, inside and out, on the façade of the Maison Biscuit by Pierre Minassia
via
below the clouds

Photo of mysterious origins



Great shot found on the brilliant .BCM blog

THE Online Museum


The online museum of online museums including such gems as The Motel Sign Museum, Vintage Finnish Pulp Paperback Gallery,
and the Gallery of Sawn in Half Cameras

An interesting article on freelance charging on Coroflot. It is design specific, but applicable to all forms of freelancers

A justification for procratination

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Objectified



I've been eagerly awaiting this film by the creators of Helvetica and the first glimpse looks interesting.

Via Core77, Gizmod

Sunday, January 4, 2009

UnloadingTabs #1

I've been neglecting this blog for a while, we all know how it is; work, holiday season, the hell of setting up a new computer etc, so now I have loads of content waiting on the wings. I'm not a big fan of dumping images or links up with no real input, but I have a bad habit of collecting Firefox tabs and I just need to clear them out. They tend to be articles I've not had time to read, image collections I've not gotten around to saving, information to inform others of, or material for posts I've not yet composed. It's practice that hurts productivity in various ways so now I'm going to start dumping them into mass posts.
Starting with this lot:

Stencil 101 book


Core77

Show Me How - 500 Thing You Should Know

NOTCOT

Road Trip Rig


Brilliant motor home built by a group of guys with no experience but loads of determination.
via Japanese Nostalgic Car

Vader Project


via Speed Junkies

Street Corners


Collection of shots showing every street corner in Manhattan, it's all about the contrast!
Richard Howe via Kottke

Golden Submarine


It's all about the details.
via Speed Hunters, Cardomain

The Beast


"Exotics" generally don't interest me all that much but this Lambo just looks ready to maim.
Bad Cop Donuts

Natural Leather


There's just something special about the way it ages
Tanner Goods

Aaron Hayes


Very interesting interview with designer come frame builder Aaron Hayes of Courage Bicycles
Coroflot

Cannondale Bicycle Stealth


Below the Clouds

Plus:

Ludicrous 15 series tyre!
Reading on career, cash and happiness.
Interesting yet divergent architecture theories; aluminium and concrete, both.
Video showing the is beauty in the production of Eames chairs.
Nixon nails the details yet again.